Christmas Sunshine!

It's almost Friday!  This week has been way more exhausting than it needed to be.  We were pretty busy at work, and now that I finally have access to all of the computer programs I need, I have been doing a lot more work by myself.  Today was my last day of 'shadowing' slash working with the other Dietitian and starting tomorrow we'll each be responsible for our own workloads and will have different roles within the office.  We had out office pot-luck yesterday and our office cookie exchange today so I've spent every night this week baking or cooking.  For many of my coworkers, today was their last day in the office until the new year so we had all of our Christmas celebrations today. My apartment is slightly Christmas-y now since I have pretty Christmas cards to decorate with.  It was a busier than normal week, but not really that busy at all, but yet I'm still pooped.  To be honest it's probably just a sugar crash from all the holiday eating that's happened at work this week.

I believe that every single person has a talent.  It may be obscure and not very obvious, but every body has something that they excel at better than anyone else.  I used to think that my talent was functioning on very little sleep without being an exhausted zombie all day.  My productivity:sleep ratio used to be pretty impressive if I do say so myself. I say "used to" because I feel like I've been  a walking zombie since I got here!  One of my goals for the year was to try to get 8 hours of sleep a night, and I have been consistently getting more than that, but yet I still feel like I could fall asleep at any moment.  My mind feels hazy, as if I haven't slept in weeks and all I ever want to do is go home and nap.  

I'm beginning to think that the lack of day light might be getting to me!  It's pitch black when I go to work and pitch black by the time I get home from work.  I have a window in my office but it's tinted heavily to protect patient confidentiality when I have clients in my office.  I don't normally get a chance to venture outside during the either, but I might need to start trying harder to do so.  I also need to start taking some Vitamin D!  You can't get enough Vitamin D from your diet and the rest normally comes from sun exposure.  The majority of North Americans are Vit D deficient, and up here it's actually impossible to get enough from the sun so we recommend 1000 IU of vitamin D daily to all of our clients.  Vitamin D deficiency is typically associated with bone health but current research has indicated that adequate levels of Vitamin D are also associated with decreased risks of cancer, increased risks of developing diabetes, hypertension and multiple sclerosis.  It's one of those super vitamins that no one really knows a lot about.  More and more research keeps coming out suggesting even more super powers the vitamin may have.  I guess it's time to start practising what I preach! On the bright side, the shortest day of the year is December 22 nd this year which is soon! By the time I get back up here in January the days will be getting longer and brighter and hopefully I'll be more awake throughout the day.

Enough about my exhaustion, it's probably mostly in my head anyways!  I'm so excited to get home for the holidays to temperatures that permit running outside during day light hours!  Plus I have 10 days off work and am not even missing a single day.  We have mandatory leave days up here from the 22nd to the 2nd, which is probably so people don't go crazy in the dark over the holidays.  This time next week I'll be all packed and pumped to get on a plane the following morning.

To get into the holiday spirit I'm spending the night watching my favorite Christmas specials.  Charlie Brown Christmas, and the claymation Rudolph.  It's not Christmas until I've seen them each at least once.